Spinal Trauma and Spinal Cord Injury

Abstract

Spinal trauma is one of the most common maladies encountered in the emergency room setting. This is especially true in major trauma centers. While the majority of these patients requires minimal supportive care for ligamentous or muscular sprain, a significant proportion of these patients will endure vertebral fractures, spinal instability, neurologic deficits and associated visceral injury depending upon the severity of the initial trauma and mechanism of injury. In the most severe cases, the patient develops a concomitant spinal cord injury.